President Donald Trump’s attempt to create U.S. jobs by taxing solar panel imports could backfire.
That’s according to the CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, who says it’s domestic workers that will feel the pain.
“We have been the fastest growing form of new energy...and this is putting the brakes on that crazy growth,” Abigail Ross Hopper told Cheddar in an interview. “These are not people who are looking for what nationality the company they work for is. They just want to feed their families and pay their mortgages. And those are the people whose jobs are at risk.”
Earlier this week President Trump signed a law that would impose a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panel and sells, a move the administration says will encourage domestic manufacturing.
But the SEIA says the vast majority of the 260,000 Americans employed in the industry work in peripheral industries like installation. Ross Hopper says the bill will result in 23,000 layoffs this year and delay or cancel billions of dollars of investment in the sector.
She also says it might dissuade U.S. consumers from going green.
“Most [businesses and consumers] want to choose solar because it saves them money,” she said. “This decision changes that calculus.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/solar-power-in-america).
John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who first exposed the fraud at blood-testing company Theranos, said the former CEO of the once high-flying start-up had a chance to minimize the pain years ago, but instead used what money the company had to hide the truth.
The activist, diversity consultant, and author is unsure if tech executives like Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey are equipped to fix platforms that they in part helped create and which, at least in the case of Twitter, might be fundamentally broken.
Well, that happened.
Far-right conspiracy theorist and verbal bomb-thrower Alex Jones crashed both the Senate and House hearings on big tech Wednesday, commandeering media attention and at one point nearly getting into an altercation with Sen. Marco Rubio.
Jones told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin that he was there to "face my accusers." Jones, who founded the conspiracy site InfoWars, was booted off Facebook and YouTube for peddling hate speech, though he remains active on Twitter.
Daniel Lippman, co-author of the Politico Playbook, said that the Democrats have done a good job of making Brett Kavanaugh look extreme through a day-and-a-half of hearings. But whether it will matter when it comes to the confirmation vote is another matter entirely.
Scooby Axson, a writer and producer for Sports Illustrated and an Army veteran, said that Pres. Trump is using Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad to stoke anger in his base.
Wednesday is a busy day on Capitol Hill. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are testifying before the Senate as questions grow over foreign influence and fake news. Plus, Brett Kavanaugh returns to Capitol Hill to face questions from lawmakers in day two of his confirmation hearings. And we sit down with Tiffany Pham, CEO and founder of the website Mogul, to discuss how women can succeed in business.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh returned to Capitol Hill for his second day of confirmation hearings Wednesday. Judd Legum, editor-in-chief of popular.info, has some suggestions for what the Democrats need to ask him.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are testifying in front of the Senate. Dana Wollman, acting Editor-in-Chief of Engadget, tells Cheddar what these executives have to say to satisfy both lawmakers and investors.
Brand consultant Allen Adamson said the companies that don't speak up in the age of social media, are doomed to become irrelevant. That's the bet Nike is making with its new campaign.
